The Kalkis Alliance
There are only a few spots suitable for long-term habitation by the mortal races on the Peaks. One such location is against and under the Kalkis Falls. While it is quite cold around the Falls, the climate remains fairly consistent year round, usually between 4 and 10 degrees Celcius, sunny, high up enough to be well out of the way for most threats, but not so high that the oxygen is too thin to breathe. It is an ideal location for the Lutrosa to live, a fact that they became aware of several centuries ago. Early in the 1000's S.V., a caravan of lutrosan survivors from the Wars discovered the remnants of a town believed to have been built by refugees from Telo-Haljr. The town had been left to rot though, all the inhabitants dead from an unknown plague of some sort, and was in poor shape. The only thing that survived was the dam and a fortress built in the middle of it, built countless millennia ago by dwarven architects. But that would not be of concern to the lutrosa for a few centuries yet, and so they busied themselves building up a good, strong little city and set up all the basic necessary trappings of civilization. With bi-yearly visits from the Dustwalkers, they were able to keep some modicum of contact with the outside world, though their lack of importance made them see few visitors until the mid-1300s. By this point, Rasenheim had become a thriving if primitive community, building its economy on fishing, the farming of various edible lichen, and mining of common ores from the mountains. In 1357, another caravan arrived in Rasenheim, composed of displaced humans, dwarves, and draconids, whose small country had been obliterated by hordes of undead- and, consequently, followed them to Rasenheim. The lutrosa took in the desperate refugees, and using the advantages of high ground provided by the mountains, stamped out the undead threat in a few months with almost no losses. During this period, the dwarves and draconids put most of their number to work as miners, being better suited to such environments than the lutrosa or humans. It was then that an incredible discovery was made deep in the newly dug mines. The lutrosa had not been the first to see the Peaks as a fine place to live. The ancient dwarves had as well, and had built for themselves several grand little cities below the surface. And so had a sufficient number of Novimfal, who were quite shocked when miners broke through the walls of their hidden fortress-city. The creatures had been in hiding and out of contact with the rest of the galaxy for a very long time, before the Wars had even ended, but the tunnels they'd used to get in had collapsed and trapped them inside. They'd focused on widening and improving their new home but their efforts towards digging a way out had been significantly stymied. The novimfal immediately entered into trade agreements with the lutrosa's surface city, and helped the miners discover all sorts of ancient tunnel networks that the pre-Human dwarves had made. This led to the discovery of other cities- all of which remained, defiant of time. The dwarves and draconids, having something of an affinity for laborious pursuits, decided it might not be a bad idea to stay in Rasenheim. The novimfal agreed- the caverns had kept them safe since they had moved in, and there were plenty of useful materials to be dug up. So a new city was built on the ruins of the old, creating three small allied city-states almost large enough to be recognized as a proper country. The lutrosa and most of the humans living on the surface in Rasenheim. The novimfal living in their hidden city of Shriilakaan. And the dwarves and draconids in their little kingdom of Garundine. Though each is independent of the other, governed in different fashions, and occasionally have disagreements over policies with their fellows, circumstances have dictated that these differences be treated as trivial at best. The Peaks have not gotten any safer over the course of centuries, and the appearances of Dragons, Illithid, and whole clans of Frost Giants are often incredibly powerful motivators for the politically minded to see past any grievances with close neighbors. Rasenheim is governed in an almost frontier-style fashion, being a meritocracy where whoever is deemed most fit to lead by the general populace is chosen to be Governor until they are too old to keep running the show. The Governor is assisted by a small cabinet of burgesses, who in turn often have a slew of advisors to help them help the governor handle all the necessary decision-making. Shriilakaan is a very strictly organized democracy, with representatives from each major district in their city being elected by popular vote and running a small but efficient congress. Garundine prefers more monarchal leadership, and is ruled by a King or Queen, who are served by a small group of noble houses made up from the Dwarvish and Draconid populations. It is common practice for the King to be of one race and the Queen to be of another; though this means they do not leave behind direct descendants- dwarves and draconids being biologically incompatible- they choose their successors from the nobility. Separately, neither of these city-states is particularly impressive, indeed they are quite small, having populations that don't break past the millions- but with their alliance, they pose a strong enough front to survive and turn back aggressors. Liyun Peaks Back to Main Page